Japanese funeral - Wikipedia 2025/06/07, 1:33 AM

Japanese funeral
The majority of funerals ( , sōgi or , sōshiki) in
Japan include a wake, the cremation of the deceased, a
burial in a family grave, and a periodic memorial
service. According to 2007 statistics, 99.81% of
deceased Japanese are cremated.[1]

Other practices in Japan include Shinto funerals and the

Ryukyuan people’s indigenous sepultural culture.

A graveyard in Tokyo
Modern funerals

After death
Although Japan has become a more secular society (see Religion in Japan), as of 2007, 90% of
funerals are conducted as Buddhist ceremonies.[2] Immediately after a death (or, in earlier days,
just before the expected death), relatives moisten the dying or deceased person's lips with water,
a practice known as water of the last moment ( , matsugo-no-mizu). Most Japanese
homes maintain Buddhist altars, or butsudan ( ), for use in Buddhist ceremonies; and many
also have Shinto shrines, or kamidana ( ). When a death occurs, the shrine is closed and
covered with white paper to keep out the impure spirits of the dead, a custom called kamidana-
fūji ( ). A small table decorated with flowers, incense, and a candle is placed next to the
deceased's bed.

The relatives and authorities are informed, and a death certificate is issued. Funeral
arrangements typically are made by the eldest son and are begun by contacting a temple to
schedule the event. Some days are more auspicious than others, based on an old Chinese six-day
lunar cycle; in particular, the second day, called tomobiki ( ), is superstitiously understood
to mean "pulling your friends along with you" (tomo = friends; hiku = pull, although the original
significance was different) and is therefore considered a terrible day for a funeral but a good day
for a wedding.

The body is washed and the orifices are blocked with cotton or gauze. An "encoffining" ritual
(called a nōkan) is sometimes performed, in which professional nōkansha ( ) ritually
dress and prepare the body and place it in the coffin (this is portrayed in the 2008 film
Departures). The ceremony is now rarely performed, and may be limited to rural areas where
older traditions are maintained. Whether or not the encoffining ceremony is performed, a
deceased female is dressed in a white kimono, and a deceased male is dressed in a suit or a

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kimono. Makeup may be applied. The body is put on dry ice in a casket. Items—such as a white
kimono, a pair of sandals, six coins for crossing the River of Three Crossings, and burnable
items which the deceased was fond of (for example, cigarettes and candy) are placed in the
casket, which is then put on an altar for the wake. The body is placed with its head toward the
north or, as a second choice, toward the west. In Buddhism, the western orientation reflects the
western realm of Amida Buddha.

During life, both men and women cross the front of a kimono or yukata with the left side over
the right. On those occasions in which the corpse is clothed in a traditional kimono, the kimono
is crossed right over left.

Wake

Funeral arrangement, with flower

arrangements, a portrait of the deceased,
and an ihai, a spirit tablet. For privacy
reasons, the name of the dead person,
as well as the face on the portrait are
censored out via pixellation.

Held as soon as possible after death, a Japanese wake is

called tsuya ( ), lit. "passing the night". All funeral
guests wear black: men wear black suits with white
Traditional design of the shirts and black ties, and women wear either black
envelope for condolence money dresses or black kimono. If the deceased was an
adherent to Buddhism, a set of prayer beads called juzu
( ) may be carried by the guests. People attending
the wake or funeral offer condolence money to the host/hostess, in special black-and-silver
envelopes (bushūgibukuro ( , 'packet for anti-celebration') or kōdenbukuro ( ,
[3]
'packet for Buddhist incense offering')). Depending on the relationship to the deceased and
the wealth of the guest, the amount may be equivalent to between 3,000 and 30,000 yen.[4] The
guests are seated, with immediate relatives seated closest to the front. The Buddhist priest then
chants a section from a sutra. The family members will each offer incense three times to the
incense urn in front of the deceased. At the same time, the assembled guests will perform the
same ritual at another location behind the family members' seats. The wake ends once the priest

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has completed the sutra. Each departing guest is given a gift, which has a value of about half or
one quarter of the condolence money received from this guest. The closest relatives may stay
and keep vigil with the deceased overnight in the same room.

Funeral
The funeral proper, called kokubetsu-shiki ( ), is usually on the day after the wake. The
procedure is similar to the wake, and incense is offered while a priest chants a sutra. The
ceremony differs slightly as the deceased receives a new Buddhist name ( , kaimyō; lit.
"precept name") written in Kanji. This name is said to prevent the return of the deceased if their
name is called. The length of the name depends also on either the virtue of the person's lifespan
or more commonly, the size of the donation of the relatives to the temple, which may range from
a generally common name to the most elaborate names for 1 million yen or more. The high
prices charged by the temples are a controversial issue in Japan, especially since some temples
put pressure on families to buy a more expensive name. The kanji for these kaimyō are usually
very ancient, and sometimes with esoteric meanings.

At the end of the funeral ceremony, the guests and family may place flowers in the casket
around the deceased's head and shoulders before the casket is sealed and carried to the
elaborately decorated hearse and transported to the crematorium. In some regions of Japan, the
coffin is nailed shut by the mourners using a stone.[5]: 353

Cremation
The coffin is placed on a tray in the crematorium. The
family witnesses the sliding of the body into the
cremation chamber.[6] A cremation usually takes about
two hours, and the family returns at a scheduled time
when the cremation has been completed.

The relatives pick the bones out of the ashes and

transfer them to the urn using large chopsticks or metal
chopsticks, two relatives holding the same bone at the Cremation in Japan, illustration from
same time with their chopsticks.[7] In other customs, 1867
they pass the bones from chopsticks to chopsticks. [5]

Known as kotsuage ( , or ),[8] this is the

only time in Japan when it is proper for two people to hold the same item at the same time with
chopsticks. At all other times, holding anything with chopsticks by two people at the same time,
or passing an item from chopsticks to chopsticks, is considered to be a major social faux pas[5]
as this will remind bystanders about a funeral.[9] The bones of the feet are picked up first, and
the bones of the head are picked up last. This is to ensure that the deceased is not upside down
in the urn.[6] The nodobotoke ( , lit. 'throat Buddha'), which is a bone located in the neck: the

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second cervical vertebra ("axis"),[10] is the most significant bone to be placed in the urn.[7] The
word nodobotoke in a living person, however, refers to the visible Adam's apple, which is a
different organ.[10]

In some cases, the ashes may be divided among more

than one urn. For example, some ashes go to a family
grave, and some go to the temple or even to a company
grave or to a space burial. Depending upon the local
custom, the urn may stay at the family home for a Picking the bones from the ashes,
period or may be directly taken to the graveyard. illustration from 1867

In the Ryukyu Islands, the traditional burial was

somewhat different from that in the mainland Japan.
Instead of cremation, the body would be temporarily
interred in the family tomb (a large burial vault, often of
the turtle-back variety); after a few years, once the flesh
had decomposed, the bones would be washed and put
into the funerary urn, to be permanently stored
elsewhere in the tomb.[11]

Grave
Bone-picking ceremony
A typical Japanese grave is usually a family grave ( ,
haka) consisting of a stone monument, with a place for
flowers, incense, and water in front of the monument and a chamber or crypt underneath for the
ashes.

The date of the erection of the grave and the name of the person who purchased it may be
engraved on the side of the monument. The names of the deceased are often but not always
engraved on the front of the monument. When a married person dies before his or her spouse,
the name of the spouse may also be engraved on the stone, with the letters painted red. After the
death and the burial of the spouse, the red ink is removed from the stone. This is usually done
for financial reasons, as it is cheaper to engrave two names at the same time than to engrave the
second name when the second spouse dies. It can also be seen as a sign that they are waiting to
follow their spouse into the grave. However, this practice is less frequent nowadays. The names
of the deceased may also be engraved on the left side, or on a separate stone in front of the
grave. Often, the name is also written on a sotōba, a separate wooden board on a stand behind
or next to the grave. These sotōba may be erected shortly after death, and new ones may be
added at certain memorial services.

Some graves may also have a box for business cards, where friends and relatives visiting the
grave can drop their business card, informing the caretakers of the grave of the respects the
visitors have paid to the deceased.

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The high prices

of funeral plots,
costing on
average 2
million yen,
have led to a
new service of
Grave
Apartments (
,
ohaka no
manshon),
where a locker-
sized grave can
be purchased for
about 400,000
yen. Some of
A typical Japanese grave
these may even
include a touch The name of a living spouse written in
screen showing a picture of the deceased, messages, a red
family tree, and other information. Due to the cost of
land, a graveyard in Tokyo has recently been opened by
a temple in floors 3 to 8 of a nine-story building, where the lower floors are for funeral
ceremonies.

There are a number of cases where the ashes of deceased persons have been stolen from graves.
The ashes of famous cartoonist Machiko Hasegawa and of the wife of real estate chairman
Takichi Hayasaka were stolen for ransom. The ashes of famous novelist Yukio Mishima (1925–
1970) were stolen in 1971 and the ashes of novelist Naoya Shiga were stolen in 1980. The ashes
of the wife of the baseball player Sadaharu Oh went missing in December 2002.[12]

Mourning and memorial services

Memorial services depend on local customs. Usually, there are a number of memorial services
following the death - for example, daily for the first seven days, or a number of services within
the first 49 days, or on the 7th, 49th and 100th day, depending on the local custom. Most
commonly observed are the Buddhist service on the seventh day after death, shonanoka (
), and the 49th day, shijūkunichi ( ). In many traditions, the urn containing the ashes
is interred in a ceremony called nōkotsu ( ) on the 49th day, and the family stays in
mourning until this.

After that, there is a memorial service on the Obon festival in honor of the dead. The festival
may be held in the 1st year, sometimes in the 3rd and 5th, 7th and 13th years, and a number of
times afterwards up to either the 39th or the 50th year. One popular sequence follows the days

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of the Thirteen Buddhas.

A picture of the deceased is also placed at or near the family altar in the household. Also, in the
first year after death, no traditional New Year's Day Postcard is sent or received. The friends and
relatives have to be informed of this beforehand so as not to send a card.

Japanese funeral industry

The average cost of a Japanese funeral is about 2.31 million yen (US$25,000) according to a
2008 study by the Japan Consumers Association. This cost includes services such as 401,000
yen for catering to attendants and 549,000 yen for services of the priest.[13] Overall, the
industry has a revenue of about 1.5 trillion yen with about 45,000 funeral homes. In 2004, 1.1
million Japanese died (2003: 1.0 million), a number that is expected to rise in the future due to
the increase of the average age in Japan; see demographics of Japan. Funeral Business Monthly
estimates that there will be 1.7 million deaths by 2035, and revenue of 2 trillion yen in 2040.

Recently there have been some changes in the funeral industry, and some funeral homes offer
more competitive and transparent pricing than a standard funeral provider. These offer funerals
starting at about 200,000 yen, a fraction of the regular overpriced services, and lists the
different options and prices to choose from a la carte. Many of these new funeral homes are
started by non-Japanese nationals. Also, recently hotels with a decreasing income due to a
decrease in weddings have started to offer funeral services. Overall, the level of competition is
increasing. To stay competitive, the prices of regular funeral homes are also decreasing over
time. Another recent introduction are services where a person can choose his or her funeral
service before death and pays a monthly fee (e.g. 10,000 yen) to cover all costs of the funeral.

History
Throughout Japanese history, famous leaders have
often been buried in tombs. The oldest known burial
chamber was built between 220 and 230 CE[14] in
Sakurai, Nara Prefecture, and called the Hokenoyama
tomb. The tomb is 80 m long, and the chamber is 7 m
long and 2.7 m wide, and contained a coffin 5 m long
and 1 m wide. It is not known exactly who is buried
there, but it is presumed to be a powerful local leader.

Around 300, the use of burial mounds for important

leaders became more frequent. Japan developed its The Ishibutai Kofun in Asuka, Nara, a
partially uncovered Kofun
unique keyhole-shaped burial mounds, which are called
Kofun ( - the word is used for burial mounds of all
shapes), and the period from 250 to 538 is called the Kofun period. Although 50 years ago it was

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believed that these mounds had initially been influenced by burial mounds in China via the
Korean peninsula, Yayoi-period mounds are generally regarded as their predecessors. It is now
believed that burial mounds of Korea built in the 5th and 6th centuries may have been
influenced by the kofun of Japan.[15]

There are numerous burial mounds within the geographical range of ancient Yamato-culture,
most of which have keyhole-shaped outlines and which measure up to 400 m. The largest is the
tomb of Emperor Nintoku in Sakai near Osaka, with a length of 486 m. and covering an area of
300,000 square meters. They are usually surrounded by moats, unless they are constructed on
hills. The round halves of these burial mounds contain burial chambers. In the 6th century,
round and square burial mounds came into use. The use of burial mounds is believed to have
gradually stopped either with the introduction of Buddhism in Japan in the sixth century AD or
with the establishment of the capital in Nara by Empress Genmei in 710. Instead, family tombs
were constructed with passages that allow additional burials of relatives. Traditionally, the
handling of deceased was considered unclean business and was usually done by Burakumin.

Medieval Sōtō Zen funerals

Japanese Buddhist funerals, which make up the vast majority of Japanese funerals today, are
generally performed in what was historically the Sōtō Zen style, although today the Sōtō
funerary rites have come to define the standard funeral format by most of the other Japanese
Buddhist schools. Japanese Zen funeral rites came directly from Chinese Chan funeral rites,
which were detailed in the Chanyuan Qinggui ( , “the pure regulations of the Zen
monastery”). The major difference between the earlier Chinese Chan funerals and Japanese
Sōtō Zen funerals was that early Japanese monks made no distinction between a monastic
funeral for an abbot and the funeral service for a layperson. The first Japanese laypeople to
receive Zen funerals were among the ruling elite who sponsored the activities of Zen
institutions.[16] One early example of this is the Regent Hōjō Tokimune, who received monastic
funeral rites in 1284 at the hands of Chinese monk Wuxue Zuyan.[17] Zen historian Martin
Collcutt asserts that “one means by which Zen monks extended their influence in society was by
the conduct of funeral services for important patrons.”[18] By the medieval Sōtō period, only a
small percentage of the funeral sermons recorded were delivered for members of the monastic
order.[19]

The progressive changes in Sōtō Zen funeral rites were not enacted by its founder, Dōgen, but
came about years later when Zen master Keizan encouraged Zen monks to go out into the
countryside and perform funeral services for the laity. Although Dōgen was the first to
implement many aspects of Chinese Chan monastic codes in Japan, his gogoku doesn't contain
any funeral sermons.[20] At this point in Japanese history, different schools of Zen were in
competition for followers, and they were “more conscious than ever before of the necessity of
making available to the laity such rites as funeral services and ancestor worship.”[21] Keizan's
inclusive attitudes toward funerals resulted in the building of many temples in rural areas and
the gradual expansion of the Sōtō order throughout Japan.[22]

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The funeral service that became popular for the Japanese laity in the medieval period was
essentially the Chinese Chan service specified for the ordinary monk. The most important
phases of this type of Zen funeral were: posthumous ordination, the sermon at the side of the
corpse, the circumambulation of the coffin around the cremation ground, and the lighting of the
funeral pyre.[23] For a layperson, the posthumous ordination part of the ritual was the most
vital, because without ordaining the deceased as a Zen monk, the other funeral rites could not
be performed, since Zen funeral rites did not previously exist for laypeople, but only for monks.
Once posthumous ordination of the laity was accepted by the Sōtō school, lay funeral practices
became possible; today, death rituals mark the central practice at Sōtō Zen parish temples.[24]
This practice was one of the first few elements of Sōtō Zen that was standardized by the early
Tokugawa period.[25] Since the popularization of Sōtō Zen in medieval Japan, Sōtō Zen funeral
practices have been a significant point of contact between the monks and laity, and continue to
play an important role in lay religious life today.

Today
Until the early 20th century most bodies were buried and cremation was limited to the wealthy.
Cremation became more common after World War II due to its efficiency and cleanliness; in
fiscal 2009, 99.9% of Japanese bodies were cremated, and some local governments ban burials.
[26]

In a break of tradition from the early Edo period to align with modernity, it has been decided
that Emperor Akihito and Empress Michiko will be cremated after their death instead of ritual
burials.[27]

Films
The Funeral, a film by Juzo Itami, depicts a Japanese family going through the traditional
funeral rituals upon death of one of their relatives.
Departures, a 2008 film by Yōjirō Takita, tells a story of an out of work cellist who answers
an employment advertisement for a funeral home.

See also
Funeral (Buddhism)
Japan portal
Emperor of Japan#Burial traditions
Jarāmaraṇa
Seppuku
Japanese wedding

References

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1. "Cremation Society of G.B. - International Cremation Statistics 2007" (https://web.archive.or

g/web/20160304142204/http://www.srgw.demon.co.uk/CremSoc5/Stats/Interntl/2007/StatsI
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48/00001183/) (pdf). Bulletin of Yamagata University. Humanities (in Japanese). 17 (1): 122.
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cations/jjrs/listofjournals/))
p368 footnote 27: Bone passing rite. A local custom of unpaired chopsticks.
p369: nodo botoke in a 1997 funeral
p370: nodo botoke in a post-1998 funeral
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hives/la-xpm-2007-jul-04-sp-oh4-story.html). The Los Angeles Times.
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(Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1991), 193.
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25. Williams, The Other Side of Zen, 41.
26. Wakabayashi, Daisuke; Sekiguchi, Toko (2011-03-22). "After Flood, Deaths Overpower
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4). Wall Street Journal. Retrieved March 27, 2011.
27. "Emperor, Empress plan to be cremated" (https://web.archive.org/web/20131118055746/htt
p://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2013/11/14/national/emperor-empress-plan-to-be-cremate
d/#.Uo2fuJGPHAY). The Japan Times. Archived from the original (http://www.japantimes.co.
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November 18, 2013. Retrieved November 21, 2013.

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Japanese funeral - Wikipedia 2025/06/07, 1:33 AM

External links
Japanese Buddhist Funeral Customs (http://tanutech.com/japan/jfunerals.html) Archived (htt
ps://web.archive.org/web/20180729055214/http://tanutech.com/japan/jfunerals.html) 2018-
07-29 at the Wayback Machine
Japanese funeral checklist (http://www.osoushiki-plaza.com/eng/eng1.html)

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